Go to '1851' to find
the complete 2% cover carried out on the 1851 Census. It is available as
downloadable .zip files for the whole of the UK. Ayrshire also has viewable
files for the towns covered.

Census returns are one of the most
useful and informative of genealogical record sources. For each person in a
household, they can contain details of name, age, occupation, and birthplace,
and in all but the earliest censuses, relationship to the head of the household
is also included. Census information can lead to earlier generations, solve
particularly thorny problems, and paint a vivid picture of a community.

Two terms require definition. Great
Britain refers to England, Scotland, and Wales. It is not the same thing as the
United Kingdom (UK). That came into existence in 1801 when the Parliament in
Dublin was done away with and Irish representatives were elected to the House of
Commons at Westminster. The UK today is made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and
Northern Ireland.

Great Britain

The census was a long time in
coming. The first debates on the subject occurred during the 1750s, but the idea
was controversial, and although the initiative received enough support in the
House of Commons, the House of Lords rejected it. Two arguments were strongly
expressed--either the census would severely impair individual freedom or it
would give information about national weaknesses to Britain's enemies. The
debate continued. Attempts were made to determine the population from hearth and
window tax returns. Opinions were expressed as to whether the population was
rising or falling and whether the nation was able to feed itself. The most
influential publication was the "Essay on the Principle of Population"
by Thomas Malthus, which appeared in 1798. Malthus was among those urging that a
national census be taken. The public debate and a series of bad harvests in the
1790s helped to influence opinions, and the Census Bill passed successfully in
1800.

The first census was taken in 1801,
and others have occurred every ten years since, except 1941. In the first
census, and through three more to 1831, the person designated as the local
census taker in each English and Welsh parish was the overseer of the poor; in
each Scottish parish, it was the schoolmaster. These census takers were required
to find out how many males and females were in the district, and to obtain some
information about classes of occupations.

For the government, there were two
main objectives: to determine the population of Great Britain and to find out
whether the population was rising or falling. In 1801, church ministers were
required to provide reports on the numbers of marriages since 1754 and on
baptisms and burials recorded in their registers since 1700. Subsequent reports
concerned the years since the last census. The method of collecting information
remained much the same through four censuses. None of these was a list of all
inhabitants at each address, however, some enthusiastic enumerators did list
more than heads of household. Once the statistical analysis was complete and the
report made to Parliament, the returns were destroyed (although some fragments
survive).

The format changed in 1841.
Responsibility for the census moved to the General Register Office, which had
been set up in 1837 to collect the details of births, marriages, and deaths in
England and Wales. The country was therefore already divided into registration
districts and sub-districts, and these were further divided into enumeration
districts, which contained twenty-five to two hundred people.

A system of civil registration was
established in Scotland in 1855, and in 1860 responsibility for the Scottish
census was transferred to this office.

It was a major undertaking to ensure
that the census was recorded without duplication, which meant conducting it in
the shortest possible amount of time. The local enumerator left a census form at
each household several days in advance of census night. These were later
collected, and the enumerator would interview a member of the household when
collecting the form if no one had been able to complete it. The process did not
change much in the subsequent returns. The enumerator then copied the
information on the forms into registers, which eventually found their way to
London for processing. It is these registers that have been filmed and made
available for public viewing. The instructions to enumerators were clear: no one
who was present on census night at a particular address could be left out of the
tally, and no person absent from home could be written in. Each person was to be
enumerated in his or her location on census night. This is important because
many people will not show up in the list of the family at home on census night.
Some reasons why people were not enumerated at home include being away at work
(e.g., sailors), visiting nearby, caring for a sick relation, or traveling.
There were other exceptions as well. Those in charge of institutions made lists
of their personnel or inmates, in some cases using initials only, in others,
surnames with first initial. The lists usually appear at the end of the
appropriate district. And finally, ships were listed according to where they
were in port on census night.

Each enumerator wrote a description
of his or her district. This is important information, often bypassed by
genealogists. The account provides a detailed description of the area and may
include names of small farms and businesses. The information here can be used
with a large-scale map to precisely locate the home of an ancestor. In some
situations, this information is essential when sorting out the boundaries of
districts in towns and cities. Search problems occur because it may not be
realized that a long road can cross through two or more districts, or that the
census taker may go along a street, down side streets, cross the road, or come
back another way. Descriptions help sort this out.

Contents

Apart from minor differences in supplementary details, the census returns for
1851 through 1901 provide the following:

Address or location

Name of each person in
the household

Marital status

Sex

Relationship to the
head of the household

Age

Occupation

Birthplace

However, the first nominal
census (1841) is different and less informative. Missing from these returns are
relationships, accurate ages, and precise birthplace details. What they record
is:

Address or location

Name of each person in
the household

Age rounded down to the
nearest five years for adults (this confused people and compounded fibs)

Exact age for children
under 15

Occupation

A vague answer to the
question "were you born in the county?" which in England meant
noting Y (yes), N (no), S (Scotland), I (Ireland), Pts (foreign parts)

Several clues distinguish
one household from another: hash marks made by the enumerators (when at the left
edge of a name, a double backslash is a new building and a single one separates
family units in the same building); 1851 and after, a new number in the extreme
left column (No. of Householder's Schedule); 1851 and after, the appearance of
the word "Head" in the Relationship column.

Use

Genealogists consult census returns for information about families—family
members' relationships, ages and birthplaces in particular. The first census
return comes four years after the start of civil registration in England and
Wales (1 July 1837) and fourteen years before it starts in Scotland (1855), so
it is obvious that census information (in particular, age and birthplace) can
facilitate the search for certificates of birth, marriage and death. It follows
that the converse is true, and that date and place information on a certificate
lead to the census. Going back and forth between these two records—following
ancestors through stages of their lives—is standard methodology.

Another obvious use of
census returns is as a launch pad into church registers. If the information
about age and birthplace has been tracked through two or three census returns
and found consistent, then the transfer is that much easier. Where that
information is inconsistent (there are examples of individuals giving, in four
enumerations, four different places as a birthplace), then maps, gazetteers, and
references to lists of parishes may sort it out; or it may be necessary to
search in more than one place.

The clue to the place of
origin of a family may not come directly from the ancestor and the immediate
family. Others resident at the same address but of no recorded
relationship—servants and apprentices in particular—may originate from the
same region as the family’s previous generation.

Census information offers
much more than basic genealogical facts. When the enumeration district is
examined and further reference is made to maps, local history books, old
photographs, or drawings, a vivid sense of the community and neighbourhood can be
recreated.

When you know an ancestor
lived in a particular parish throughout his or her lifetime, the appropriate
film can be found through reference to the Family History Library Catalogue under
Country>County>Parish>Census, and then it can be ordered on loan.
Difficulties arise when this information is not known, when ancestors lived in
large cities, or when families moved about. In these instances, indexes may
help, addresses might be found in other records, or the search must be expanded
in a methodical way.

Challenge

Common names can be a problem. Selecting the proper connection will require
additional information, such as occupation or names of others in the household
(preferably someone with an unusual Christian name), as well as a pretty good
idea of age and birthplace.

If you have problems with
the spelling and pronunciation of a name, you can guess that the enumerators did
too, which may mean that a name beginning with one letter is actually written
with another. This may have something to do with handwriting or with speech.
There are no quick answers for this, just imagination and careful searching, or
a handy collateral relation who can be found.

If a place isn't there, the
records may indeed be lost, but do not accept this explanation without some
research. What sort of a place name is it? It may be too small to be an
enumeration district. Perhaps you are using the name of an ecclesiastical parish
rather than a civil parish. Reference to maps and gazetteers should sort this
out. On the Web, try the alphabetical
place name list for England at GENUKI. If you are in the midst of a search
in the right area, read the enumerator's descriptions and the returns for the
adjacent areas.

In cities, the street index
references are an important aid; however, they refer to the piece numbers
assigned by the PRO and are sometimes a challenge to match to LDS census film
numbers. Map work may help, but there have been many street name
changes—London and Glasgow are good examples. A Guide to Glasgow Addresses (S.
Miller, Glasgow and West of Scotland FHS, 1993) and the two-volume Index to
Abolished London Street Names found at the Family Records Centre in London are
two possible routes to a solution.

The wise researcher is
always willing to consider that the starting point is a fib, or only partly
true. Searching for siblings and other relations is one alternative; another is
to extend search boundaries of time and place. Other records, e.g., voter's
lists, vital records, church records, or probate records, may add facts to help
sort out the problem.

1841 to 1901 Census Returns are
available online for a small fee at Scotlandspeople

There were several Census
Recordings carried out in Ayrshire in the period up to the start of the formal
returns in 1841. As information is obtained on any of these 'early' census, it
will be added to this page.

The Census registers are currently
available for research for the following years :-

1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891
and 1901

The census consists of details of all
the occupants of households on a particular night in the census year. They are
arranged by addresses within civil parishes. The
appropriate census date for each year is as follows :-

1841

7th June 1841

1851

31st March 1851

1861

8th April 1861

1871

3rd April 1871

1881

4th April 1881

1891

5th April 1891

1901

1st April 1901

Each census is different - with less information in the
1841 census - but generally the information includes name, relationship to head
of household, age, occupation, marital status, and birthplace.

Adult ages in 1841 census year those
aged 15 or over may have been rounded down to the nearest 5.

The database index to the 1851 Ayrshire Census was
listed by volunteers and co-ordinated by the Glasgow and West of Scotland FHS.
The database provides speedy access to brief details of everyone living in
Ayrshire in 1851. The database, on computer, gives names and ages, then information of
parishes, book, page and line numbers allowing the full entry details to be
found quickly on the census films.

The index to the 1891 Ayrshire Census
provides speedy access to brief details of everyone living in Ayrshire in 1891.
The index gives information on names and ages, then parishes, book and page
numbers allowing the full entry details to be found quickly on the census films.